Itoko
by El Loco Rojo
Summary: It's a family matter for the Detective in this calculatingly thrilling intrigue. Unexpectedly caught up in the drama of a long-lost family member, Yusuke and the gang will learn just how connected people become through the webs they've woven; twists and danger lurk around the corner in this fanfic. possible OC x chara tba. Please READ AND REVIEW (post series fic)
1. Chapter 1

"—it just isn't the same is all. It's not half as fun now that—"

"Eh! Urameshi!" Yusuke was interrupted with a stranger's violent, irritated shout as he walked along the road with Kuwabara and Kido.

Eyebrow quirked with annoyance and slight interest Yusuke turned around, ready to frighten off his would-be assaulter with a look when he was caught heavily in the stomach, the breath fairly knocked out of him. The force took him back behind his two friends, who looked on, startled into inactivity. Yusuke had no idea what to do about the figure attached to his chest, who had by now turned big eyes up to grin in his face. It took only a moment of looking into those bright, mismatched eyes before his friends saw Yusuke's face break out into a smile and he let out a joyful laugh they hadn't heard since his last big fight. He gathered the kid into his arms and swung them both around, the younger's feet flying almost perpendicular to the ground.

"Jeez man, thought Keiko was your girl, ya little cheat!" Kuwabara growled, rolling his eyes.

"What, you don't recognize me, jerk," the kid pushed herself away from Yusuke and gave Kuwabara a not-too friendly shove, smirking at him.

"Wha— K-Komi?"

"Heheh, yeah, now ya got it," she winked; Yusuke came back and draped himself over her shoulders.

"Long time no see kid, didn't know you were back in town," Yusuke laughed.

"Uh, who's this?" Kido whispered aside to Kuwabara.

"Yusuke's cousin,"

"Yeah well if you bothered t'stay in touch ya woulda." She sneered with a grin, casually tossing her hands behind her head in a leisurely pose.

"Hey don't get cheeky with me ya brat," her cousin growled playfully, quashing a hand on top of her head and ruffling her hair. "C'mon, we were just heading to the Yukimora's food place,"

"See not too much's changed since I been gone," she laughed, tossing her head to shake out the mussed hair. "Oh, hold up,"

She ducked under Yusuke's arm and skirted in between Kido and Kuwabara; Kido stole a glance before he shied away from the chance Yusuke might catch him. The girl was just a year or so younger than himself with features that seemed familiar, her hair was long and glossy black, like Yusuke's. But it was her eyes—one was a caramel brown, the other a hazel blue.

She darted back about half a block and snatched up a loan duffel from the sidewalk where she'd let it drop and ran rather awkwardly back to the group.

"What's this?" Yusuke demanded.

"My stuff," the girl shrugged.

"Tch." Yusuke sneered, snatching the bag from her shoulder and shoving it in Kuwabara's gut. "Here,"

"Hey, you punk, I—"

"Such a gentleman Kuwabara, thanks," Komi smiled over her shoulder, which was once again under Yusuke's arm.

* * *

"Yususke!" Keiko laughed as he walked through the door. "You should—" she froze when she looked down at the figure under his arm.

"Hey Keiko, look who showed up." He said grinning like a loon.

"Hi Komi. No one mentioned you were back." Keiko said.

"Just got in and ran into your beau,"

"You little brat," Yusuke again batted her upside the head.

"Don't be rude Yusuke," Keiko said, turning back into the shop.

"Don't walk off," Yusuke followed her in and left Komi standing with Kuwabara and Kido in the doorway.

The girl didn't seem fazed in the slightest and followed in after, letting her odd eyes drift around. She picked the corner booth—the same one Yusuke always picked. Now Kido knew why her face seemed so familiar; Komi looked like Yusuke, though her features were smaller and with a definite feminine slant.

"Keep starin' and I'll shoot out your eyes," Kido shivered as Yusuke's whisper tickled his ear as he brushed past and slid into the seat next to Komi.

Kido swallowed hard.

"So kid, what brings you home," Yusuke shot his cousin a glance and then a glare flicked towards Kido, before he took a drink of cola.

" 'Ol man sent me here while he's on a business trip or something. Summer of fun before a'get shipped off to boarding school or something." She shrugged a smile before taking the glass from his hand and downing a good gulp or two.

"Boarding school?" Yusuke scoffed.

"Rough," Kuwabara nodded.

"Eh. I'll survive. I'm a survivor." She winked and let Yusuke take the glass back.

"How're things going then?" she asked, looking around the table. "From the look of things you still run the place,"

That made Yusuke grin. "What're you talking about," he quipped. "Me, running things? Tch, idiot."

"How bout you Kuwabara, keeping him together alright?"

"Haha, you know it."

"Oh, please, I'm always having t'save your ass!" Yusuke grumbled.

"I'm Yukomi," Komi said, nodding over the table to Kido while Yusuke and Kuwabara fought.

"Kido," he looked at her and then with a jerk down he looked away again.

"Be careful running with my cuz, he'll get you int'hell."

The other two continued in their arguing and Kido let his eyes go back to the additional figure.

She shrugged at him. "Course, he always plays the hero and gets you out again afterwards,"

"You seem to know him pretty well,"

"He is my cousin," she quirked back at him.

"Thought you'd been gone…how long did you say?" Kido asked over the straw to his own drink.

"Didn't,"

_She's smarter than Urameshi, that's for sure._ He thought over his reply.

"How do you know Yusuke?" she turned back to him.

"We, uh, had the same master,"

"So you went from street fighting to the real deal eh?" she jabbed her cousin in the side.

"Something like that. Don't get concerned."

"Tch," she scoffed turning to look at him. "Concern for you is about as useful as trying to row a boat with a tennis racket. Nah, I just thought I'd say told'ya so."

"What're you talking about?" he ruffled her hair and pushed her deeper into the booth. "Alright kid get talkin' cause I got a short attention span."

"The ol' man took me round all over. I've seen just about all of Japan, Russia, America, England and France. Spent a summer in China before getting dumped off in Australia for a winter; learned kangaroo hunting there."

"You little shit," he gave her a rough shove and then pulled her around the neck and gave her a nuggie. "Seriously, what the hell have you been doing these past…"

"Nine years." She shoved herself away from him. "Honestly, just…living. He did take me to America. We lived there for a long time in a city. 'as home-schooled so I didn't get the opportunities you had. You know, the important things like the first lesson in stealing someone's lunch money or that fateful day when you realized you could get whatever you wanted with the threat of your fist,"

Komi was grinning from ear to ear at yet another jab at her cousin. He sent her a smirk and quirked eyebrow but let her laughter die down so she could continue. "Really…it's just been life. Held a job for a little bit, that was kinda fun…I got to work with kids."

"You got a boyfriend?" Yusuke demanded.

"Urameshi!" Kuwabara exclaimed. "You don't just go asking a girl that!"

"Kuwabara, shut up," Yusuke didn't even give him a glance.

"No." Komi said. "How bout Keiko, make your move?"

"Wha—hey! Shut up!" Yusuke yelled.

"Yusuke, what are you yelling about now?" Keiko asked in her high voice as she brought over plates of food, three in all.

"Where's Komi's?" he asked her.

"If you can't behave dad'll ask you to leave," she warned him before she walked away.

"Never has before," he shrugged, taking a fry.

"I don't think she likes me much," Komi said, digging into his fries. "So tell me what's been going on?"

The three boys looked at each other. He'd only just defeated Sensui and saved the world, again, and then nearly won a battle to be king of demon world, no big deal.

"Skipping school, beating the crap out of kids, shoving Kuwabara's face in it now and again. Normal stuff."

"Yusuke, you've never been normal," the young girl said with a gentle sincerity and a knowing look; Kido noted the knowing look.

"So where'ya staying, and why didn't you bother to let me know you were coming, what didn't plan on stopping in?" Yusuke demanded, her comment ignored.

"Of course I wasn't going to skimp on seeing you—I'm the one who found you, remember?" she, too, was apt at disregarding certain comments and questions.

"How's he doing?" Yusuke asked after a while; he and Kuwabara both offered portions of their meal to Komi.

Kido saw their gesture and thought to, and then, after a quick glance to Yusuke, he second guessed himself and thought better of it.

"Who?" she questioned, taking a piece of tempura and popping it into her mouth happily.

"What's-his-name that you lived with," Yusuke said annoyed. "How's he been."

Komi started coughing violently, her surprise at Yusuke's question causing the spasm. "Uh, h-he's fine. I guess. Akunin-san's business trip was kinda on his mind… Why?"

Yusuke shrugged.

* * *

"So I guess we'll be seeing you around Komi?" Kuwabara asked as the four stood at the crossroad where their paths split.

"Count on it," she smiled and gave a little wave.

"Alright star, let's get going," her cousin said, giving a little tug on her arm; her duffel was slung over his shoulder and his other arm was around the young girl.

"He's pretty protective of her, huh?" Kido asked Kuwabara as the two looked on after Yusuke.

"Yeah, I don't think I'll ever get that guy. He's not even like that around Keiko."

"So now where too?" Komi asked Yusuke, her glowing eyes turned up to meet his; Yusuke got a sickly feeling in his stomach and felt that the gods had made her personality this way just to punish him.

"Taking you home, where else." He said, smirking down at her. "Atsuko'll be happy to see you."

* * *

They walked along in intermittent bouts of conversation; Yusuke sensed nothing maleficent from her, nor her demeanor. She wasn't out to get revenge on him, or to plague him for what he'd done. From how she acted towards him, it was almost as if she didn't even remember it. As they walked along, he heard someone close distance behind them. They'd just gotten to his home street when he decided he was done being followed.

"Hey star, go on inside. I'll come in a minute," he said, letting her walk out from under his arm.

She turned back, her eyes questioning him but after looking at his face she took a step backwards and then turned; there was an understanding between them and Yusuke felt a dagger twist into his heart: Komi trusted him, completely.

He turned his attention behind him. No one was there. Waiting a moment to be sure Komi had gone inside he let his demon energy rise to a menacing point—he'd either draw the lurker out or he'd scare them off. After a few minutes of this, he realized that he must have succeeded in the latter; no one had come out to fight him, no one had made themselves known. Still, he felt a twinge of unease about it. But before he could take a step forward to investigate there was a crash from behind him, coming from his mother's apartment.

"Damnit! Komi! Atsuko!" he took off running, not knowing how his pursuer could have gotten behind him and hoping that he wasn't too—

Atsuko stood, her body facing the fridge but both her hands flatted and white against the countertop. Her eyes were wild with hate and disgust and she was breathing heavily, a bottle of booze shattered at her feet.

"What…the hell mom?" he asked.

She didn't seem to hear him. He looked across the room and saw Komi leaning against the sink, her hand pressed to her face. Just then Atsuko let out a rather feral cry and lunged for Komi. The girl managed to duck out of the woman's way, but with little need; Yusuke easily intercepted and grabbed his mother about the middle, stopping her in her tracks. She struggled against him, spouting profanities and hateful shouts at the girl who was still standing, rather dazed, across the room.

"Heh…it looks like she's had a few too many rounds again. She really knows how to tip'em back." Yusuke said, trying to keep his grip on his mother without hurting her.

She wasn't having it. Atsuko turned on Yusuke and started lashing out, her hands trying to claw at his face, her nails begging to rip his skin. He easily dodged her efforts and kept her at bay, but he was pretty perturbed. She looked crazed.

"Komi you need to get outta here for now. Find Kurama—apartment 614 at the Grover Field complex," he called over his shoulder as he forced his mother into the living room, not realizing that he'd given the wrong name.

Her eyes doe-like Komi followed him to the doorway, looking on. "But, Yusuke, where—"

Atsuko screamed and made another lunge for the door, and finding herself unable to do so she grabbed an empty bottle and let it fly at Komi. If the aim hadn't been so bad the blow would have surely knocked the girl unconscious. As it was, it merely shattered over her retreating back as she bounded through the door and down into the street, darting around a few cars and unhappy pedestrians.

"Great," she said, stopping in a park and sitting heavily on a swing. "I've got no idea where Grover Fields is."

* * *

Reflecting that at least she had a good way to resurrect her native language in full—the politest of forms and all—she set about in her task of figuring out where this Kurama fellow lived. It was slow going. Most everybody didn't want to talk to her, despite the fact that she was not only native Japanese, but she had the good fortune of actually looking native. Well, except for her eyes. Her eyes scared people—even in America they'd scared people, except for the 'weirdos' who thought it was cool. People didn't get that it was simply a matter of genetics and there wasn't anything to be done about it. She couldn't help but laugh at the little old ladies who'd just skirted away from her after she'd asked them if they knew Grover Field Apartments.

They were whispering among themselves that she was a 鬼―子、a devil's child.

"No more a devil than you, old lady," she muttered to the night, slipping her hands into her pockets.

She'd been sure to keep in a reasonably straight line after leaving Atsuko and Yusuke. She figured that as soon as he'd gotten his mother calmed down, Yusuke would come to look for her. If she stayed on a straight rout, she reasoned, he'd find her rather quickly…if she were heading in the right direction. Nine years was a long time to be gone, especially when she had left when she was just a kid—the only places she needed to know how to get to had been the park, the konbini, and school. Her mother or Yusuke had taken her everywhere else she needed to go.

It had been near sunset when they'd separated from Kuwabara and Kido, and it was approaching night now that the sun was almost perfectly set. She wasn't worried about people though; Japan was reasonably safe, especially after living in the states. However, she didn't like the idea of getting lost in the city at night, no matter how safe it was.

"Excuse me," she tapped a girl about her own age on the shoulder.

"Ye-oh!" the girl said, starting when she turned to see Komi's eyes.

"Hi yeah, I'll be quick and then you'll never see me again; do you know where Grover Field Apartments is, by any chance? I'm…kind of new,"

* * *

Yukina started to see the girl who had stopped her. She felt sorry for the creature; her face was badly scratched, the blood still oozing from the fresh wound.

"Uh, Grover Field apartments?" the mint-headed girl asked, cocking her head to the side. It was strange question, the buildings were rather famous for their unique structure and had gone up—so she'd been told—quite a few years ago, despite the rather vacant rent rate. "They're right over there,"

The girl with mismatched eyes looked at her in disbelief and then turned to where Yukina pointed. Then, again surprising Yukina, she started laughing.

"I feel so stupid right now. I'm sorry to have troubled you. I just got here today and I have no idea where anything is anymore," the girl laughed, her eyes closing and a good natured smile plastering her face.

"It's no problem. Are you alright?" Yukina couldn't help but ask.

"Hm?" the girl looked at her with surprised eyes. "Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks so much!"

Before Yukina could inquire about the girl's wound she was gone, sprinting off in the direction of the apartments. Yukina sighed. _'How strange,'_ she thought. _'I just leave Suichi and Hiei's apartment at Grover Field, and then get asked about that exact place. I wonder what happened to that poor girl to make her so desperate to find it!'_

* * *

Komi was oblivious to the jagged scratches down her face, still attributing the sting to the slap she'd received from Atsuko. Having gotten away from the girl she'd run into, Komi slowed. If Yusuke had already gone to this Kurama's house and found her not there, would he be more likely to wait for her or to go out looking for her? Throwing her hands behind her head as she walked, Komi considered this. On the one hand, he'd always looked after her and kept her safe and protected her, and that would probably mean that he was still likely to worry about her and would therefore go out looking for her. On the other hand, he was rather careless and a bit of a goof and totally carefree, and he always had been, and that would mean he'd probably roll his eyes and sit back and talk or watch tv with his friend and wait for her there, provided he didn't have something else he really needed to do.

Shrugging she decided to keep on her course. Even if Yusuke wasn't and hadn't been there, his friend—this Kurama—would know whether she should go back to his house or wait or whatever. He could even call Yusuke if it got too late.

That being her plan she wandered into the parking lot of one of the apartment towers. There were eight towers, one under construction. It looked like a miniature city all on its own. To her great disappointment, all the buildings were at least six stories—she didn't know which one she was looking for and with seven buildings each with a minimum of six floors, her job got all the more difficult. She supposed she could knock on the 614th door of every building until she found this Kurama, but that seemed inadequate and problematic. People were bound to call a security guard if some random girl knocked on all the doors asking for someone she didn't know, had never seen, and only had part of his name.

"Well," she hopped up onto the top of a closed recycling bin and sat, swinging her legs and looking up into the sky. Only the crescent moon was visible, and Venus. The city was too bright for anything else to be seen.

She missed seeing the stars.

"What are you doing?"

Komi was startled out of her trance by a mellifluous voice.

* * *

Suichi Minamino carried a few flattened cardboard boxes and paper bag full of ripped and used newspapers out to the recycling bin. It'd been three months since they'd moved into the apartment, and they'd only just gotten unpacked. Well, he'd only just gotten unpacked; his three-eyed roommate had very little to his name. As he drew near the bins he saw someone sitting on top of them. Getting closer he saw it was a girl, a young lady rather, and she was in danger of falling off. His emerald eyes tilted upwards to see what she was looking at.

His best guess was the sky.

"What are you doing?" he questioned her as he drew near.

The girl started and looked down, blinking away the light of the moon from her eyes for a moment. "Oh, uh…hm." She said, looking down and drawing her lips into a thin line as she thought.

"That's a pretty long story but the short of it is I'm looking for someone," she shrugged and hopped down, opening the bin for him.

"In the moon?" he questioned playfully, nodding thanks to the open bin.

She chuckled—he noted that she had strong enough character to be able to laugh at herself. Standing face to face with her he noticed three startling things right away. The most apparent was the set of wicked lines marring her face, then her startling eyes which did not match in color. The last and most perturbing thing he noticed was that she was eerily familiar and he recognized her features instantly, though he could not place them. This last fact immediately set him at ill ease and his eyes narrowed a fraction in caution.

"No, I just miss seeing the stars. I'm looking for a friend of my cousin, who lives…here…somewhere…" she gestured around the complex.

"That is very helpful information," he slighted, still good naturedly, though, this time with the intent of baiting her.

"Haha well…I kind of left in a rush. Any chance you could help me out?" she asked wincing slightly as she looked at him, as if feeling guilty for asking for assistance.

"I will try," he said hesitantly. "What is this friend's name."

"Any chance you know a Kurama?" she smiled at him but he felt a chill run through his spine. Only demons knew him by that name.

Unperceived by the girl (the bright headlights of a car had gained her attention and she had foolishly turned to look at them) he took a step back and withdrew the rose from his hair, shifting it into his pocket in case he needed it.

"Why would you be looking for Kurama?" he demanded, his voice now cold.

This she noticed and her eyes opened wide; innocence ran across her features plainly. She blinked at his sudden change of mood and herself took a step away from him—he noted especially—with a slight fear.

"I didn't mean to be rude or anything like that…" she said slowly, alluding to using the wrong name, or having brought up someone who'd insulted the man she was currently talking to. "That's just all that Yusuke told me. Well, the name and the room."

Suichi faltered, his own eyes going wide, though with surprise. "Yusuke? Yusuke, Urameshi?" he demanded.

"Y-yeah," she said, taking another slight step backwards, again offset by his odd behavior.

He put a hand to his face and chuckled at his own paranoia. He should have known! It would be like Yusuke to tell someone the name 'Kurama' instead of 'Suichi'.

"Please, do not be worried. I am not angry, nor will I harm you," he said, still chuckling. "I was merely taken aback…Kurama is a nickname of sorts, and it is unsettling for a stranger to know that,"

"Wait…you're Kurama?" she asked.

He nodded, still chuckling and shaking his head. He took a step towards her again and put both hands in his pockets.

"Hey, what floor are you on?" she questioned abruptly, her face still innocent.

_She is a smart girl; and I should be wary of that 'innocence', she pulls it off well._ "I live on the six floor, room 614, actually." He said, smiling at her.

He saw her shoulders lower and she let out a breath he realized she'd been holding.

"Why did Yusuke send you to me? And how do you know him?" Suichi asked as he motioned for her to walk with him back towards his apartment.

"Yusuke's my cousin," she said and was instantly interrupted by him.

"Of course!" at a surprised glance from the girl he laughed and continued. "I am sorry; I merely recognized your face but could not place you when we first met. It is very obvious you are related to Yusuke, you look very much like him."

"Oh. Yeah, I get that a lot," she said shrugging. "Anyway, he sent me to you 'cause…well…his mom had uhm…"

"She drank a bit too much this evening?" he helped her out, realizing she was trying to be polite.

"Something like that. I guess I surprised her and she, well, lashed out and Yusuke told me to find you. I guess he hasn't come calling for me yet, huh?" she turned her eyes to his face.

"Wait, Atsuko struck you?" Suichi questioned, stopping abruptly and turning to face her.

"Oh, is my face still a bit red?" she asked, cocking her head and furrowing her brows.

"No…uh, here, let us get you quickly inside,"

* * *

Suichi was grateful his roommate was not at home. He saw that she was cautious as she followed just behind him, carefully noting the rooms that they passed, making sure that he was leading her to 614. There was something under the surface of this girl that he was not sure he liked. She was so innocent and had such a pureness around her, much like that of Yukina. Yet, she seemed also subtly intuitive and cunning, with street smarts that surpassed many he knew. The juxtaposition unsettled him.

"Please, have a seat," he motioned to the couch.

He came back and gave her a mirror to look at. "Oh, well…that explains things…" she said earnestly, her brows arched as she looked to him. She was about to speak again when he cut her off, knowingly handing her a damp cloth. "Thanks,"

"Have you eaten?" he asked.

"Yeah, thanks," she said, looking to him with the cloth pressed to her face.

"I am afraid I do not know your name," he commented.

"Oh, Yukomi…but Komi."

"Heh, alright Yukomi but Komi, may I ask what happened?"

"Well, I just got in today and Yusuke said I was staying with him…guess Atsuko was excitable? Anyways…I guess you could say it's been an exciting day."

"When was this exactly?" Suichi asked in good humor, not minding the girl sitting on his couch; she was so different from Yusuke.

"…" she paused and her eyes drifted up to the ceiling as she thought back. "Uhm…depends on what time it is now?"

* * *

"Tea or hot chocolate?" Suichi asked, bringing a kettle of hot water, two cups and several packets.

Komi looked at him from the window, which she'd been smiling out looking, perhaps, at the city lights.

"Hot chocolate sounds pretty good," she admitted, thanking him with a deep sitting bow.

"I think I will have to call Yusuke," the red head mused after handing her the mug.

"I'm sorry for all this trouble."

He shook his head and sat opposite her, brewing himself tea. "No, if Yusuke sent you here, he had no other options."

"…are you two not close?" she questioned, her eyes bright; he smiled at her quick wit.

"Close yes, however, your cousin is rather proud of his abilities to take care of his problems himself."

"Yeah, stubbornness like that runs in the family," she turned back to the widow happily. "Still, I didn't have to plague you."

"You are awfully hard on yourself," Suichi smiled, though deep in his mind he made a record of the word she used. Plague had very dark connotations.

She seemed to realize, at least partially, what he'd understood her words to mean and her eyes widened, like a kid who'd been caught stealing candy before lunch.

"No, I just…hate to be a bother," she quickly corrected, smiling at him.

The girl has a nice smile, that's for sure. A befitting name as well, Komi.

"Forgive me for asking, but I have known Yusuke for eight years, and, not once has he mentioned you."

Her lips still smiled, but her mismatched eyes became saddened. "Yeah, I left about nine years ago and Yusuke and I didn't really stay in touch."

"But…you act so close," Suichi started, looking at her with surprise.

"Act?" she looked over the rim of her mug at him. "We are. Before I left…Yusuke was all I had. We didn't talk much over the years, but I still sent him letters and called now and then."

He saw something flash through her eyes and read that she was omitting something from her story. He was growing more and more interested with her by the second, and more eager to talk with Yusuke about her.

"I didn't know we had a guest," Komi jumped and looked around; Suichi stifled a laugh at her surprise. Hiei had come in through another window—he'd only come back to Human world a year and a half or so ago. He hadn't said why.

"I—"

"This is Yusuke's cousin," Suichi interrupted her. "Komi. He sent her here after…a slight disagreement with Atsuko,"

Hiei's eyes had widened and locked to Komi when he learned that the girl was relation to the detective. His face recovered quickly and he nodded and took a seat in a backwards chair.

"This is my roommate, Hiei." Suichi said.

Obviously startled by his piercing eyes, Komi gave him a bow and said nothing more. Suichi found this terribly amusing and felt he needed to let Hiei decide for himself what to make of the girl. With the excuse of getting Hiei some tea (to which Hiei glared at him sidelong) Suichi left for the kitchen, straining his ears to hear what happened next.

* * *

Hiei froze in his tracks. The detective had a cousin? Now that he looked at the girl it was obvious. Except, the detective had brown eyes, and this girl did not. However, the raven hair fit, and her face was a dead giveaway she was his relation.

"Do you know Yusuke too?" she asked, having finished her drink faster than she'd anticipated.

"Yeah."

His voice was deep and flat, but knowing that he was a friend of her cousin seemed to get her going and she sat up, as if gaining courage.

"So you and Suichi are good friends of his?" she questioned, cocking her head the same way the detective did.

He blinked a few times at the resemblance before remembering her question. "You're rather nosey." He commented and looked off.

His burning eyes snapped back to her again when she laughed—just the same way Yuuske did, though her voice was sweeter. "Sorry. Just figured it was better than sitting in an awkward silence. But I guess silence is your thing."

"You are obviously his cousin," Hiei said, wrinkling his nose; her response was to laugh at him.

"I guess that answers my first question then,"

"Tch. I'm going to help Kur—Suichi." He stood up, pushing the chair rather forcefully.

"I didn't mean to offend you," she said, her face straight.

"Hn. You shouldn't apologize." Hiei affronted her contemptuously over his shoulder.

"I don't remember apologizing for anything," she retorted, her voice even but her eyes glinting mischievously.

* * *

"Shut up foxboy." Hiei growled as he meandered into the kitchen where Kurama was leaning against the counter.

"She is a bit different in personality, is she not?" the red head laughed.

"Her eyes…"

"Yes, they are very peculiar. Especially because they're hiding something."

"Hn. Then you noticed too?" Hiei asked, folding his arms.

"Yes. It seems we will have to talk with Yusuke soon. Speaking of which, I should call him and—"

"Don't bother. I'll get the detective."

"Hiei has left for some business." Suichi said as he walked back into the room with Komi.

Her eyes glinted and Suichi saw a knowing spark. "Ah. Guess it's just us till Yusuke gets here. Hope I didn't offend Hiei,"

"No, he is like that. Now,"

* * *

"Sorry Komi," Yusuke said, surprising Suichi; rarely did Yusuke apologize. "Kur—Suichi. Thanks for lookin' out for the kid for me." the detective corrected himself at a look from Suichi, suddenly remembering the other's aliases.

"It was no trouble. We should get together sometime, catch up on how things have been going," Suichi hinted strongly, his eyes motioning to the girl who was tapping the top of her shoes on the floor to adjust them on her foot as she prepared to leave.

"Sure. I'll look you up sometime,"

"He's nice," Komi said when they were outside the door.

"He's a good friend. You ever get into a bind, if anything ever happens to me…you go to him, okay?"

She paused, and looked at him with inquiring eyes. "What would happen?"

He turned with nonchalance. "Who knows. This is life, isn't it? C'mon kid."

Komi darted to his side and gently jostled him. "She calm down?"

"Nah. I don't think mom's apartment is a good place. We're going to my place."

"Your place? I didn't know you lived alone,"

"I am twenty one ya brat." He chuckled, cuffing her head playfully. "We're just gonna go get your stuff and then we gotta take the bus. We'll needa be fast though, if we wanna make the last one. My place is in the Yamanagin Prefecture."

"What are you doing way out there, living as a lumberjack?"

"Hahah, that's a good one. Nah, you'll see. How's your face?"

"Suichi let me clean up."

"That ain't what I asked kid," he locked her under his arm.

"I'm fine. And I'm not a kid!" she laughed out. "I'm eighteen."

"No you're not," he stopped.

"Yes I am,"

"No you ain't. You're four years younger than me,"

"…I'm almost eighteen."

"Tch. C'mon."

* * *

They just made the bus that would take them to Yamanagin prefecture. It wasn't long before Komi had fallen asleep on Yusuke's shoulder. He heaved a sigh. He had no idea how he was going to work this one. He only had Genkai's temple to take her to, though, he wasn't sure what the old bat would have to say about it.


	2. Chapter 2

**_A/N: professional curtisy; I own nothing of Yu Yu Hakusho nor the concept. I simply own Yukomi and the premise of this story. Enjoy and r&r please._**

**_*hey all, edits have been made to the first two chapters-there were some spelling errors, some gramatical things that didn't get converted when I first uploaded, and I decided upon a very helpful review from a reader that I needed to pay closer attention to some character traits of our main heroes. Hope you re-read and enjoy, though the edits are not detrimental to the rest of the fanfic. _**

* * *

It was past early morning when the bus finally commenced it's last round on the rout. Yusuke nudged Komi to wake her up; while her eyes opened and she followed him off the bus, she could scarcely be construed awake.

"Kid, don't make me carry you," he warned giving her a gentle jostle as they walked along the path.

Komi only muttered an unintelligible mumble and stumbled along the path they were walking together, her duffle dragging along the ground. Yusuke looked down at her and smiled; her eyes were half closed and she was blinking furiously to try and keep the sleep out. He caught her under the arm when her foot caught a root and she almost toppled over.

"Gah," he let out a breath, smiling the whole time. "Damn it kid. C'mere."

He took her duffle in his hand and told her to hop on her back. Normally she would've protested, stating that she was too old to be carried like a little kid. However, she was nearly unconscious with jag-lag-exhaustion. She was asleep in no time, grateful to be off her feet, slipping into black oblivion. Yusuke didn't really mind. He owed her this much—hell, he knew he owed her a lot more than this for everything he'd done—and it wasn't as if he even felt himself carrying her. She was too light to be any bother to a demon, after all. He jumped when Komi stirred against his back, as if she'd heard him speak the word in his head: demon.

"Sheez…what am I gonna tell the old hag?" he asked out loud. "Huh, maybe she's died in the week I've been away. Or she might be asleep already, that'd work too," he joked to himself.

He was still repressing things, like how he didn't know what he'd do when she did die. He knew he'd be totally lost without the old woman, she'd taught him everything he knew. Well, almost.

* * *

He got lucky, Genkai was either out or asleep.

"Hey star, c'mon kid wake up." Yusuke said using his favorite nickname for her, jolting her a bit to get her to open her eyes.

"Hm?" she blinked and slid off his back, rubbing her tired eyes.

"Look ya gotta be quiet; there's a room over this way that's separate from almost the rest of the temple…you're not even listening to me, are you?"

Again he was answered with inarticulate sounds which he took to be a protest that she was indeed listening to him. Chuckling to himself he showed her the room and pulled out the bed dressings for her, dropping her bag by the door; he turned around to see she hadn't even bothered changing, had just fallen onto her bed and passed dead asleep. He shrugged; he could deal with Genkai in the morning.

* * *

Komi stretched and blinked. The morning was bright—

She bolted awake, her heart pounding, her eyes wide to see and take everything in. She let out a breath when she realized where she was and recalled that her journey had brought her here with Yusuke. A feeling of safety oscillated through her, though, it didn't quale her heartbeat in the least. The sunshine was glowing brightly through the rice paper of her shoji screen door; there were chrysanthemums painted on it. She felt it was odd as it wasn't autumn yet but was delighted nonetheless. Picking up the bed hastily and stripping down even more expeditiously (eager to again be clothed, least someone come in to her room), jumping into the only other pair of jeans she had, a racer-back tank and a sleeveless hoodie. She peaked the shoji screen door open languidly and vigilantly took in the scenery. The temple courtyard was beautiful compared to what she'd seen back at—

With a heavy sigh she flopped to the ground and rolled on her back, watching the view before her. She couldn't help the fruition fly through her eyes when a bird or butterfly flitted peacefully into her view. She delighted in seeing the sun dancing on the flowers and dandelion wisps floating along in the breeze.

After a while she got hungry and began wandering around the temple, taking in the open rooms eagerly. She kept herself in check, remembering she was a guest. Komi wanted to find Yusuke and ask how he'd come to a place like this. She was sure it made an interesting story and she couldn't wait to hear it.

She found him outside the great main doors. She cupped a hand over her mouth to still her voice; she'd never seen her cousin so focused before in her life. Slinking carefully and quietly out the door she crept to the stone stairs and sat midway down, keeping to the side of Yusuke so she could watch without interrupting him. He was practicing something, movements—martial arts.

* * *

"So when were you going to tell me about our guest," Genkai demanded, walking slowly down the stairs, her voice making Komi jump from her seat. "Well, ya gonna introduce me or not dimwit?"

"Awh damn," Yusuke muttered. "Stupid old hag!"

"Yusuke!" Komi shot at him, turning surprised eyes to her cousin's face.

"Heh, what is it this time dimwit, Keiko not good enough for you anymore?" Genkai teased.

"Uh…" Komi blinked at the old woman.

"Relax," Yusuke growled at the old woman. "Keiko is happy working out of her ol'man's place, and nagging me the whole time."

"So who is she?"

"Go to hell,"

"Yusuke!"

Komi heard the old woman laughing behind her and smiled, feeling absurd.

"She's awful scrawny," the old woman said, looking her over.

"…scuse me?" Komi arched her brow. Scrawny?

"You got a hearing problem kid? That's what I said, isn't it?"

"Tch. Guess it beats being shriveled," the girl decried under her breath.

Yusuke chuckled and walked up to his cousin and threw his arm over her shoulders.

"Hn. Well, that settles it. She's related to you. What's your name kid?"

"Guess you're Genkai." Komi eyed the woman, distinctly not answering. "Gonna let me stay then?"

"Tch. And what have you done to warrant that?"

"Eh, guess being your cousin doesn't get that great of props," Komi shrugged up at her cousin, forgetting about Genkai.

"C'mon granma," Yusuke rolled his eyes. "Stop playing hard ball."

"It ain't a charity house kid. You gotta earn it here."

"Aye, aye, moi Capitan," Komi snickered, giving a mock salute.

* * *

******_[two weeks later…]_**

"Oof," Komi grunted as the water bucket collided with her chest. "Hey,"

"Don't whine. You got yourself into this." Yusuke said, tossing a rag her way.

"I know," she laughed, shaking her bangs from her face. "But ya don't have to slop it all over me."

Komi let the bucket drop to her side and slung the towel over her shoulder like a waiter. She figured Yusuke would probably go off and play videogames or something. She didn't mind chores—she'd done a lot of hard work in the past. Besides, she'd have a chance to explore more of Genkai's temple, maybe even the grounds. It could be cool.

"You're seriously gonna go do it all by yourself?" Yusuke demanded, popping his head back around the corner of the door.

"Uhm, yeah." She said, arching her brows as if to say 'duh'.

"Tch. Gimme a break. You ain't gonna last, here," he strode forward and tried to snatch the bucket from her hands.

"Hey!" she twisted out of the way of his lunge. "Dude, I think I can handle it.

"No, you can't. You're just a kid now c'mere," Yusuke growled playfully, catching her hood and pulling it low over her eyes, taking the moment to grab the handle of the bucket.

"Pfath," Komi shook her hair from her eyes as she tossed up her hood, eyeing him with narrowed orbs. Her hand clenched around the bucket's handle and her arm locked. "I'm not letting go,"

"Kid—"

"Not my name," she gave a little tug on it towards her chest.

"Argh, star, let. go. Seriously." He pulled a little harder on it.

"No." she held on harder, staring at him.

"Let. It. Go. I've got it," he gave a sudden, sharp tug and the bucket slipped from her hands.

Komi lurched forward, watching the bucket arch towards her cousin, the water lifting up in slow motion and splashing him across his face and chest. He stood there, dripping with water, blinking suds from his eyelashes, glaring at her. Slowly an impish smile started spreading over the girls face; as her lips pulled back over her teeth her tongue could just be seen poking through, as if to keep her from making a sound.

"Don't. Even." He warned her.

"Tch…tchfffthahahahaha!" she broke her pose and started giggling, doubling over, her loosely braided hair swinging over her shoulder.

"Arg Komi!" Yusuke dropped the bucket and lunged for her.

She gave a squeal and dodged out of his way, tearing out of the room and around the veranda-like porch that wound along the courtyard walls of the temple. Yusuke thundered after her, right on her tail causing her to scream when he reached for her. She ducked under his arm and skirted a pole which (thanks to demon abilities) he was able to dodge easily. Her socks made her turns crazy and skewed, nearly having her crash through the rice paper doors a few times as she ran for her life around the deck, trying to get a chance to leap into a room and escape into the labyrinth of the temple.

The chase ensued through quite a bit of the temple's outer chamber of rooms before Komi found her way into the main hall and through it out into the main yard. She burst through the large red doors and bolted down the temple stairs, making for the woods—or at least a distraction to get her cousin to stop chasing her.

"Ehy!" Yusuke yelled, getting Kurama and Hiei's attentions. At the yell Kuwabara, who'd just arrived, came running up the last of the stone stairs from the road.

"Dammit star, get back here!" Yusuke yelled at her; the girl just laughed.

Determined to catch her, Yusuke leapt down over the last flight of stairs and was once again right behind her. She twisted to her right and was making to dodge around Yusuke and get back to the temple when he reached out a hand and caught her braid.

"Wh-hey!" she called, her hands flying back as she stopped, his chest colliding with her shoulders as he continued to move forward.

"Urameshi!" Kuwabara screamed from the stone walkway across the yard. "What are you doing, you don't just go and grab a girl's braid!"

"You little twerp!" Yusuke snarled to hide his laughter.

"Don't blame me! You're the one who tried to take it away!" she snickered, making a face at him.

"Oh, you little—" Yusuke swooped down and grabbed her around the middle, tickling her sides.

She snickered and squirmed, trying to get out of his iron grasp, but to no avail. Before Kuwabara had managed to make it to the group she was in fits of uncontrollable laughter, completely at Yusuke's tickling mercy.

"G-G-Get off!" she giggled, writhing around.

"Not a chance, you sloshed that water all over me brat!" He was laughing too.

"Hahahaha, Yusuke I can't breathe!" she choked out through her laughs; the two had Kurama, Kiddo and Genkai laughing right along with them.

"Jerk let upIgiveIgiveyouwinI'msorryyouweredumbenoughtogra bthewater—from—me!"

"Hah, see now was that—hey!" in the second he'd let up she rolled and jumped to her feet, ducking behind Kurama's figure, still trying to catch her breath through giggles.

"Haha, she got you stupid," Kuwabara laughed, having picked up on the 'dumb enough' bit.

Yusuke socked him and quipped back, telling Kuwabara that he was too dumb to speak so what would he know anyway. Hiei muttered how that didn't even make sense, glancing to the young girl; he still didn't seem to be able to make heads or tails of her yet, which the fox found terribly amusing.

"Take that back!" Kuwabara yelled at Yusuke, his finger in his face.

"Enough of your idiocy." Genkai demanded, hiding a smile.

"Awh, Killjoy." Komi sneered, straightening from her hiding place and crossing her arms. "Hey granma!"

"Shut up kid," Genkai shook her head. The truth of it was that Komi and Genkai got along well; Komi was like Yusuke in many ways: she was playful, mischievous, and loved to be lazy. However, there was a passion in everything she did—right down to chores—that led her to work hard. She was (despite enjoying her goof-off time with her cousin) very mature for her age, and Genkai recognized an old soul in the girl. Yusuke had stopped B and lower A class demons in their tracks with a stare; Genkai saw something in Komi's eyes too, though the girl was very good at hiding whatever it was (unlike Yusuke, whose emotions were generally written all over his face).

"Tch, hag," the girl scoffed, uncrossing her arms and leaning heavily on one leg, arching a brow at the old woman.

"Don't make me come down and teach you a lesson girl," Genkai threatened with her serious voice.

"…" Komi blinked, surprised at the aggression; Genkai started laughing. "hey! That's not fair old lady, you're freaking scary!" Komi's brow furrowed deeply and she mock-pouted at having been gullible enough to believe the woman would actually beat her.

"What's all this about," the woman questioned, walking down the stairs.

"Eh, Yusuke attacked me," the young girl shrugged, tossing her head to the side, her braid sweeping over her shoulder.

Kiddo watched her take it out, fascinated. She ran her fingers through her deep raven hair and began re-braiding it, keeping it loose so that strands fell out from the sides.

"You dimwit," Genkai growled at her favorite pupil. "You touch that girl again and you'll be eating your own balls for breakfast,"

"Wha—hey! She started it!" Yusuke protested, forgetting for a moment that he had Kuwabara in a headlock.

"Are you trying to make his head pop off?" Hiei questioned, half interested—hoping that Yusuke would actually pop off his head.

Yusuke continued staring down the old woman, letting go of Kuwabara, who dropped to the ground and coughed.

"Kiddo," the woman addressed, turning her back on Yusuke, the conversation they'd held with their eyes not unnoticed by the girl. "go with Komi into town and pick up some groceries for me. You lot go through food as if it's going out of style,"

"But…" Kiddo started to protest and then glanced at Komi and decided he was actually getting a better deal of things.

"…" Komi's mismatched eyes flickered to her cousin and quickly scanned his face; Kurama watched her calculate for a second before she brought a smile to her face, one he couldn't tell if it were real or faked, which made him a little nervous. "Cool, field trip,"

* * *

"So what's coming?" Yusuke demanded of Genkai quietly, glancing back towards the temple to make sure Komi was out of earshot.

"Not sure but I figured we'd get that kid out of here," the woman answered, her back to the great compound that was her home. "Don't know what you were thinking, bringing her here dimwit."

"She can't stay at my place." The young man growled.

"She is awfully observant," Kurama noted with a little smirk to Yusuke. "You realize she knows something already, don't you?"

"The kid's smart," the detective shrugged. "But that doesn't mean she knows anything."

"Don't be stupid," Hiei rolled his eyes.

"She does share Yusuke's blood, his lineage. It is quite possible—"

"C'mon you old bat, what's coming." Yusuke said, interrupted-whether intentional or unintentional was indiscernible.

"Geez, what's with you every time Komi comes up?" Kuwabara demanded, having picked himself up off the ground.

"Hahah, dream on!" the girl laughed as she hoisted herself over the railing and dropped down into the yard. "Catch me if ya can!"

She wheeled around and almost ran straight into Yusuke. "Aren't you forgetting something?" he questioned as Kiddo slinked slowly behind her, cautious of drawing Yusuke's attention.

"…Uh…just the list…" she said hesitantly, her eyes unconsciously rolling up and back as if she were searching for the answer in the air.

"Tch, here," he fished out his wallet and tossed it to her.

"…oh. Thanks, we off?"

"Get," he gave her a little shove towards the road.

She called to Kiddo over her shoulder that she'd race him there and took off without another thought.

"Wha—hey!" the boy called, chasing after her.

_When had she gotten so fast? Was that speed normal for a kid? _Yusuke thought, running memories through his mind, trying to add things up.

"Hey man, what's your deal?" Kuwabara demanded, grabbing a fistful of Yusuke's shirt.

Yusuke's eyes held that penetrating stare he reserved for his foes-perhaps forgetting that it had been quite some time since he and Kuwabara had last sparred, forgetting how much stronger he was? It was the same look he'd had in his eyes on that fateful day when he'd fought Kuwabara, just before he'd died the first time.

"So, our guest," Kurama intervened, aware of an impending energy drawing ever closer to the barrier that separated the plains of Genkai's temple complex from the plains of Spirit World.

"You lot are the demons, you tell me why you believe he'd be coming here?" Genkai growled; the answer was fairly obvious to them all. Genkai was a renowned psychic-who'd slain hundreds of demons in her time, who had also trained the former Spirit Detective (who had also defeated several of Demon World's best, or rather, worst).

"Are you sure it's coming for that reason?" Kwuabara asked, feeling uneasy as the demon drew closer; he wasn't sure he was ready to get into another life or death battle, especially after about five years of peace.

"There's a slim chance it isn't," Yusuke said doubtfully. "An even slimmer chance this won't end in a fight. If you're scared, you can follow Komi, make sure she's safe through this,"

"Hey I'm no coward!" Kuwabara growled; he was just thinking about Yukina. She and his sister had gotten an apartment together (which had displeased his parents, who'd had a traditional life planned for Shizuru) and he was hoping to have saved enough to propose to Yukina within the next few months. He wasn't ready to say goodbye not even married.

"It may not come to that," Kurama warned; Yusuke was hot and heavy on fighting, despite there being other methods of dissuading attackers and violent would-be killers.

"Fox your shining optimism blinds your reality sometimes," Hiei sneered.

"No more than your ignorance dulls yours," Kurama quipped playfully back to the now glowering Hiei.

* * *

****"What do you suppose that was all about?" Kido asked Komi as they rode at the back of the bus down into the town at the base of the mountain.

"What?" she asked naively; he couldn't tell if she really hadn't picked up on anything or if she was playing him to find out how much he knew.

"Them making a big fuss about us leaving. Did you see how they were looking at each other?" he felt he had a right to be insulted, he was a strong psychic and had been training under Genkai for four years, longer than Yusuke when he was first inducted to fight in the Dark Tournament.

He watched her in disbelief as she shrugged. "If it were important for us to know, Yusuke would have told us. Don't worry so much about what goes on behind the scene's Kido, you aren't the director of this play,"

Her reprimand stung-not because she was cruel in saying it, she was quite right even if he didn't want to admit that fact, but because it showed him he had little trust in his friends. Here she was, possibly putting her life into their hands without a second thought about it. He couldn't say he'd ever done that.

"So, you're training with Genkai?" Komi asked several minutes later after having stared out the window.

If Kido had been paying attention to her and not his own thoughts he would have seen her eyes lose their challenging glow and her brow furrow slightly as she watched the landscape pass by her window. It was obvious that their previous conversation had taken her back to somewhere, someplace that she quite disliked. However, Kido didn't notice this and wasn't at all surprised at her cheer and gayety as she asked him this question.

He nodded, unsure of how much he was allowed to tell her of the situation, how much she already knew or had guessed, and how much was going to be entrusted to her with the coming days.

"Yeah, Genkai has been training me, kind of like Yusuke. Martial arts and mind prep and stuff like that," he sloughed, hoping he sounded enough like his non-descriptive self to pull off such a half-assed answer.

"Haha, no theatrics when it comes to the old bird eh?" she laughed at him; he had to admit he was rather melodramatic.

"No...Genkai kinda beat that outta me, at least in regards to training and stuff," There was a flicker across her face at his words. "What?"  
Her mismatched locked startlingly to his at his question with a look he couldn't read. Just as quickly the look faded into nonchalance and benign disregard. "What 'what'?" she asked back.

"...you just..." he faltered; she arched her brows at him, encouraging him to continue what he was saying. "Uh...got a funny look on your face..."

She giggled. "That's not nice!"

_Is she playing it off, or is she serious_? he thought as he smiled and turned to his window. _Did she really make a face, or was it just the light and my 'melodramatic' imagination? What the heck was that look she gave me anyway?_ Kido shivered. It was kind of like one of Yusuke's looks, the more that he thought about it...

"So, do you know the town well?" her voice sounded normal as she asked him, her face set to a half smile/half smirk like it usually was when she was having a normal conversation.

Kido decided he was going to have to talk to Kurama about her and these weird feelings. "Uh, yeah pretty well. I know it enough to run Genkai's errands, at least. It shouldn't take long to find everything on the list."

"Oh." she sounded almost disappointed.

* * *

"You know it isn't going to take them long to finish that list," Yusuke hinted to Genkai.

"There's still catching the bus, and the ride back," the fossil stated as she took a deep drag on her cigarette. Yusuke almost regretted complying with Keiko and giving up smoking himself.

"C'mon, you really think the demon will be here and defeated in the time it'll take them to get back?" Kuwabara questioned, half disbelief half naive questioning on his voice.

"What, not confident in this dimwits abilities?" Genkai's voice didn't change as she jabbed a thumb at the former detective.

"He may be right...need we really endanger the girl so thoughtlessly?" Kurama asked as he stood by the temple stairs.

"I dunno about you guys but this waiting business kills me. I hate standing around until they show up, or decide not to and it's all a false alarm." Kuwabara muttered, not paying much attention to the conversation at hand.

"If she shows up before it's dead it'll give dimwit here a better reason to fight and if not then there's no problem to be had. And if you can't handle the tension I suggest you start walking back to your petty life as an accountant." Genkai answered them both irritably.

"Lawyer," Kuwabara muttered a correction, knowing she was right.

"Pfft. Look old lady I'm ten times as strong as I was when I fought Togouro-whatever's comin'll be a piece of cake." Yusuke bragged in his flippant way, rolling his arm as if seriously stretching his muscles for the fight to come.

"You're so full of it! What happens when your cousin gets hurt cause you're such a pompous ass?!" Kuwabara shouted, leaping to his feet for a shouting match that always seemed to happen when he got with Yusuke.

"Stop bickering like children." Genkai ordered, letting her reduced spirit powers surround her body, taking the clock back in time several years to when her energy was stronger and her face much less wrinkled.

Hiei narrowed his eyes at the detective; he could sense something about the girl was trouble. He let his eyes close as he thought about the girl and their current predicament This was something he was rather curious to see play out, and he resolved to stick around for a while to see if it stayed so intriguing.

Kurama let his body shift into Yoko's form, though the true demon still remained in a near slumber deep inside of him. His now-golden eyes looked between his friends-would this be the battle where someone said goodbye for good? If not, was it simply a prelude of one to come?

* * *

"Ohhhh! Kido look!" Komi gushed, grabbing the boy's arm and nearly plastering them both to a store window. It was nothing he hadn't seen before; a figurine, a fan, some 'cute' little nicknack or other; dust-collectors he called them.

She didn't elaborate on what she was looking at, or what she'd intended for him to look at. In fact, as they looked in the window, she fairly forgot to keep oohing-and-ahhing at whatever had first caught her attention. Then, though she seemed just so enraptured with whatever junk she was looking at, something clear across the street would capture her attention and she'd drag him off to look at that.

Komi either had the eyes of a hawk, or she was leading him around in circles and wasting his time. He refused to let her pull him off to the next shop and made a show of checking his watch and noting the time it'd taken them.

"What are you doing" he finally asked, unable to stand the pretense much longer.

She looked at him puzzled, but didn't reply.

"Seriously. Stop goofing off and lets get back to the bus. If you're not even interested in what's in the shops then why the heck are you dragging me off to them, except to annoy me and waste my time? I'd like to get back to the group and figure out why they're all spooked, if you don't mind."

Komi stood looking at him after his tirade, that same eerie look flickering across her face like the final spark of a blown-out candle. That look made him shiver every time. Finally she smiled at him-a cold smile he hadn't seen before-and sighed shaking her head.

"You don't get it, do you?" she asked.

It wasn't so much her words as the way she said them that sent an extra pulse through his body and made his heart pick up pace.

"What are you talking about?" he demanded, ready at any second to open his territory.

"They obviously don't want us around right now," her voice again changed to one of matter-of-fact-superiority and all trace of her previous tone was gone. "And if they don't want us around then there's no point to go rushing back like fools, and interrupting whatever it is that they sent us away to miss because they didn't want us interrupting it."

"Uh..." she was stringing him along on something but he felt he was starting to lose the track she was on. "I don't follow..."

"And beyond that," she continued, rounding on him with a pout on her face and disgruntled finger pointing at him. "I wasn't dragging you around for nothing. You aren't observant at all! I wasn't looking at what the store was selling. I was looking at the back wall of the stores. They're all from the same temple-painting. Haven't you noticed?"

"..." he felt his cheeks flush. In all the time he'd been coming here, he hadn't noticed. And it wasn't something he thought very usual for several stores to have pieces of the same painting-especially when that painting came from a temple.

It was rare for a temple to be destroyed at all; one had to get special permits, find the right monks and priests to perform chants and blessings in the disbanding of it, and the relics inside (what was left over from looters) had to either be donated to a museum or to be assimilated into another temple via more chanting and whatnot. For there to be temple paintings here in town, so close to Genkai's temple...

"Are you sure they're not fakes?" he asked, forcing a harsher voice than normal to let her know he was still irritated with her.

"Tch. Of course not," she shrugged. "It isn't like I'm an expert. But if they're not, why would seven different opposing stores want cohesive paintings?"

This was something he didn't have an answer for. Why would they want cohesive paintings? Sure, it would be different if the paintings were only similar, or the same one (it could then simply be a matter of ownership rivalry, trying to outdo the other shops with fineries and such). But as he followed Komi back around the small shopping district of the valley town and inspected the paintings closer (as window shoppers, of course) he could tell that she was right: all the paintings were seemingly taken from one large mural. Whether from a temple or no, he couldn't ascertain simply by looking at them.

"Wanna go ask about them?" Komi said, her differing eyes scanning the painting on the back wall of a souvenir shop.

"Eh? Why?" Kido shrugged; he was curious too, but he was dying to get back to Genkai and the others; he could just feel something was about to happen there and he didn't want to miss it.

Komi shrugged at him. "I'm going to."

"What for?!" he called after her as she walked inside.

* * *

She let her fingers trace over some objects she wasn't really looking at, pretending to be inspecting the merchandise. Her voice was quiet as she answered him, not wanting to draw any attention to herself yet.

"I'm curious. It's too much of a coincidence for seven different shops, all competing for sales in a small town where few outsiders travel continually, to have seven different pieces of the same painting. Especially if that painting really is from a temple!"

"But why is it your problem? So what if its more than coincidence, what do you care?" he groaned, the presence of another powerful demon becoming stronger at the back of his mind.

"It isn't, I just do." she said, again matter of factly as she inconspicuously made her way towards the painting.

She looked at some fans, then some wall scrolls and finally she let her eyes move over to the painting. She glossed over it at first, pretending that something else had caught her eye. However, she did a double take, and then came back to it a third time and inspected it more closely, finally catching the attention of the sales clerc.

"Fine painting, isn't it?"

"Oh, it's beautiful," Komi let her voice go airy, as if she were an arts connoisseur and had seen little that was finer than this. "Can you tell me about it?"

"Haha. It was painted between the end of the Heian and start of the Kamakura eras-" the man started, taking her for just another tourist who knew nothing of Japanese culture or history.

"Who painted it?" Komi interrupted.

"Uh..." the man was obviously caught off his guard and fumbled for a name, stuttering several times. "Actually, historians have made guesses, but they're not sure just who painted it. See, the painting here is of a beautiful young girl, much like yourself,"

Kido nearly gagged at the sales pitch, but Komi did a good job of fettering at the comment, as if she believed it, egging the man's speech on.

"See the cranes on her kimono?" the man asked; Komi nodded. "There's a famous painting called 'Dance of the Cranes' and that piece is very similar to this one. However, they were painted at totally different periods. And take note of the girl's hair, and the way she holds the fan-these are styles unfamiliar with that artist. And, if you look closely, you'll see chrysanthemums on her obe tie-unusual to pair cranes and chrysanthemums together in such a way as this. And the fact that she is in a garden courtyard of some kind, as indicated by that building there, and the pond and swans over in that corner," the man continued.

"You know so much," she let her eyes light on the man momentarily before quickly hastening them back to the painting.

_Geez, she's a master manipulator!_ Kido thought, watching her work the man easily, like a child with clay.

"So, what's the story behind it?" she finally asked.

"Story?" the man questioned, cocking his head.

"Yeah...don't paintings all have stories or legends? Like, curses or magic puzzles, reasons the painter set so much of his soul into the work?" she giggled, but Kido noticed that at the mention of legends the man had started balking.

"I wouldn't know it, if there were one." he stated curtly, heaving a sigh and beginning to examine some product that needed 'cleaning'.

"Oh? But...well...you just seemed to know so much about it...I mean, I thought it must have run in your family or the town or something like that,"

Komi played on the man's ego, and Kido saw him falter, preening at her supplications. The boy marveled: she had this grown man right where she wanted him!

"And if you're so scholarly about it, well, I just assumed you'd know so much about the backstory of such a captivating picture. I wasn't wrong...was I?" Komi's question was accented with just a slight furrow of her brow, her eyes big, her mouth pouted ever so slightly.

Kido shifted uncomfortably at the look the man had now; perhaps Komi was playing into it a little too well. That was not the look a grown man should give a seventeen year old girl. Komi though, didn't seem phased. _Does she notice?_ Kido wondered._ Does she even understand what she's doing_? He knew that on some level all girls understood that they held power in their ability to manipulate men with their looks and innocence and helplessness; but he also knew that few actually understood the power itself, or just how stricken it left men.

He cleared his throat, causing the man to jump as if awakened from a dream.

"Ahem. I...well...uh...no, you're not...I mean, I do know lots about this painting, but, uhm..." the shop-owner became more flustered as her look of helplessness turned to one of just-recognizable boredom and disappointment. "You see..."

"I guess if there isn't anything special about it...I mean, I was going to ask how much you might sell it for. My dad's really into collecting things like this, if there's a good enough mystery to it ya'know?" she interrupted him and turned her gaze back to the painting. "But, I guess-"

"There is a legend. But..." he dropped his voice "...we don't talk about it in this town. It's a bad omen."

"Daddy loves a good intrigue," Komi's attention was now fully back on the man as she leaned in closer to hear his dark secrets.

Kido noticed the man starting to sweat and his eyes got the same look they had before.

"Don't you think your dad would like to look at the painting himself?" Kido found himself asking. "Maybe if you brought him back here, he could hear the story too,"

The man jumped, having forgotten about Komi's male companion and coughed, straightening himself and glancing around to check that no one else had seen his less-than appropriate interest in the girl.

"Like I said, it's not something we talk about. And the painting isn't for sale. Be careful not to break anything on your way out; have a good day."

Komi shrugged and started out, 'accidently' bumping into a table and spilling some fans and wooden 'talismans' to the floor, earning a disgruntled call from the store owner.

"Well...that didn't go as well as I'd hoped." she said, giving him an apologetic look.

"Uh, Komi," Kido said, starting to blush himself. How did he tell her to stop being a tease when she didn't know she was doing it or probably even meaning to? "Maybe you should...you know...cut back on the, uh, theatrics..."

She gave him a confused look in reply as they walked towards the next shop.

"You know..." he tried again. "You...uh...acted so, ahm...vulnerable...and...that guy was giving you weird looks..."

"What do you mean? I thought he was totally buying the story about some rich guy wanting rare paintings?" she said, still in that same innocent way.

But what just flickered through her eyes...that weird look from before? Kido thought he saw-but then, he was also trying to discern whether or not she'd intended to give the guy a hard on or not.

"Uhm...what he was 'buying into' was the fact that you're a cute girl who kept giving him praising complements, which is probably more attention he's gotten from the opposite sex in who knows how long."

He didn't know if Komi's reaction surprised him, answered his questions, or simply gave him new ones: her eyes widened, a little shocked perhaps? and she turned her face away hastily, as if disconcerted. When she looked back around her face was red, and she wouldn't meet his gaze-which seemed to fit a degree of being flustered or abashed.

"Yeah. Wanna try another store?" she changed the topic and veered off towards a store slightly off the path, putting distance between them.

* * *

"Hey buddy, you get lost or something?" Yusuke asked patronizingly into the woods where it appeared a young boy was walking.

"Ah! Perhaps you could help me sir?" the child smiled and hastened over towards the temple. "I was with my mother, but we got separated and-Ah!"

"Right." Yusuke scoffed as the 'child' was stopped by Genkai's temple guardians-stone statues that had been blessed and chanted over against demon's at the temple's construction. Any the temple didn't recognize, any that meant mischief or harm weren't allowed to pass through unscathed, though if powerful enough a demon could charge its way past.

"Hm. I did not account on humans being so clever." the boy's voice had dropped an octave and was gravely and harsh now, his smile cold on his face as a laceration bled on his cheek.

"I take it you're new here," Yusuke stated, his power swirling around them glossing as the image of a phoenix sometimes.

"Oh very astute," the demon-child chided, the child half sounding praising and the demon patronizing.

"What do you want in the human world?" Kurama demanded outfront.

"My, but you're not hospitable, are you?"

"SPEAK," Hiei snarled.

The demon tilted its head back and sniffed the air. Then it's eyes began to glow and its voice changed, sounding like many at once. "we gather for the storm; we gather for the wicked that comes,"

Suddenly the wind was strong and battering them from all sides, the sky darkened as if in the blink of an eye-an eerie green grey darkening that heralded danger and forbearance. The many voices that came from the demon began to laugh, their volume increasing as the wind surged up around the temple.

Yusuke swore under his breath-they could attack the demon outright, they had every right to. Still, ever since he'd learned where he came from, since he'd realized that demons weren't inherently evil, it'd gotten harder to simply kill them on any whim. He wanted cold hard proof that they deserved to die before he let himself take action.

"What storm?" Kurama questioned, his rose whip already out and half curled around his feet.

The demon's eyes glowed and it continued laughing, raising a hand and pointing a finger at them, the genesis of voices speaking in a language none of those present contrived as axiomatic but himself.

"Hn. I tire of this-let's end him and be done with it," Hiei prescribed.

"Man this guy's frickin' crazy!" Kuwabara shivered, his spiritual awareness much besotted but not so utterly vacant.

"No, merely early for what is certain to be detrimental to the vapid existence of this...humanity." the voices slugged-collectively ever colder, ever more minacious.

"What do you have planned for this world!?" Kuwabara demanded, suddenly seized by the predominance of a fear that was inexplicably unexplainable.

"Who are you to demand of me mortal?" the voices suddenly turned acrid and directed their attentions to Kuwabara, who seemed riveted in place.

"I am strength-strength enough to postulate a force irreconcilably deterrent from your own. I am strength-power! Power that demands you speak of your plans demon," Genkai's voice-increasingly younger in tones-suddenly erupted into the echoing distance of mountain air around her temple.

The voices ejaculated a ruckus of hideous laughter-both shrieks and groans and low muttered moans all at once-at her, tossing their head back in transparent entertainment of her postulation.

"Give me your name!"

The laughter stopped. The wind ceased. The demon looked towards the woman and everything went still.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Hey lovelies, I didn't think that Fanfiction updated everyone on changes to chapters that are already posted, so just an update I went back and fixed a few things from the first two chapters.**

**I do want to let you all know that I use the names Kurama and Suichi almost interchangeably in this story-granted they are technically two different characters, I find it much easier to simply write as if they're not. To distinguish between the demon-fox and the human, I'll use Yoko-Kurama, vs Kurama and Suichi. Hope you enjoy this chapter as well, be sure to read and review! Also, if you like this fic be sure to pass along the title to friends :]**

* * *

"Komi, that makes the fourth shop," Kido groaned as he flopped down onto a bench.

She didn't answer him; her mismatched eyes were piqued-though, he reasoned it must be by something in her thoughts because he followed her gaze and found nothing worth irritation across the street where she was looking.

"People just don't talk around small towns," he pinched the bridge of his nose.

"This was just so...so...clandestine..." she muttered, kicking the ground with the toe of her shoe like a child; Kido took a hard second look-he felt he'd seen this scene before.

_Why does this feel so rehearsed? Did she plan this? And what the heck does clandestine mean anyways?_ He thought, watching her, that something about it all felt wrong.

"Uh...what?" he asked finally, leaning on his knees.

"...it was just...I dunno. Exciting I guess. Mysteries are fun, you know? It just seemed like something to do." she said after some length, as if searching for answers as she sat heavily next to him.

"Tch. Chicks and curiosity," he tried joking, glancing her way; she wasn't paying attention.

"Hey," he touched her arm gently to get her attention; her entire body went utterly tense and she moved her arm away in a hurry.

"Hungry?" she jumped up, smiling down at him. "Let's get food and maybe a full stomach will give us some more ideas on how to talk to these people,"

"Us? I thought this was your gig? When did this become an us?"

"Hah, like you've got anything better to do than to help me," she smiled at him and turned on her heel, heading towards a diner.

Kido got to his feet and followed her; he was kind of hungry, now that he thought about it. Besides, he knew he needed to stick close with her because if anything happened Yusuke would have his head.

As the two crossed the street the wind picked up violently, causing him to pause and Komi to turn against the wind, her hair whipping around and out of the loose braid she kept it in. Kido hurried to her side, pulled her to him and guided her across the street. That wind was caused by demon energy, he could feel it.

"Inside," he ordered, shooting a glance back up towards Genkai's temple atop the mountain.

"Geez, talk about gusts of wind," Komi chuckled, turning her face away from him once they had gotten through the door.

"Yeah, strange," he replied, still looking out the window to the top of the mountain. _What's up there? What's going on? I should be there..._

"Excuse me miss, are you alright?" someone's unfamiliar voice caught his attention.

He turned to look; Komi had a hand to her head and was steadying herself against the counter.

"Komi!" he felt the blood drain from his face. Yusuke would kill him.

"Hey I'm cool," she said, shaking her head and pulling herself away from him. "I guess I should have suggested food sooner. What do you want?"

He watched her blink hard, swallow a deep breath and then right herself with some effort. The look on her face was now unmistakable; she was beyond irritated, though at what he couldn't pinpoint. They ordered, picked a booth-one he made sure was away from the window and the mountain-and waited. She didn't drink much of her tea until he started to try and talk to her.

"So wanna tell me what that was really about?" he asked, staring hard at her.

"What? Never had a dizzy spell? Guess maybe you haven't been training as hard as you say," her voice was almost curt, her jest almost cynical.

"...you alright?" he tried again.

"Yes, fine." she deferred his question with another sip of her green tea. "Okay, what's our next step? I was thinking maybe you should try asking the questions about the paintings-they might be more willing to talk to you. You're a regular, er, semiregular here right? Besides, you look fullout Japanese, maybe they'll talk with you."

"Komi," he sighed and hid his head in his arms on the table. "You're not going to drop this, are you?"

"...tell you what, help me with this-figuring out the mystery behind those paintings-and I'll answer your question."

* * *

"Who are you to demand of me mortal?" the voices suddenly turned acrid and directed their attentions to Kuwabara, who seemed riveted in place.

"I am strength-strength enough to postulate a force irreconcilably deterrent from your own. I am strength-power! Power that demands you speak of your plans demon," Genkai's voice-increasingly younger in tones-suddenly erupted into the echoing distance of mountain air around her temple.

The voices ejaculated a ruckus of hideous laughter-both shrieks and groans and low muttered moans all at once-at her, tossing their head back in transparent entertainment of her proposition.

"Give me your name!"

The laughter stopped. The wind ceased. The demon looked towards the woman and everything went still.

"What...the hell?" Yusuke looked at Genkai-who no longer looked like Genkai.

She was younger, that he was almost used to even though she'd given him her spirit orb that contained most of her power. But she was...glowing or something. He and the others backed away, giving her space; her eyes weren't brown anymore, nor was there any colour to them at all, or pupils for that matter. Her spirit energy felt strange too-stronger and not like anything he'd experienced before.

Power was trembling out of her-like she'd said. It felt like she actually was power.

"Gen...kai...?" the young man asked, reaching for her.

"I would not recommend that, Yusuke," Kurama cautioned, grabbing his hand and stepping between him and Genkai.

"Your name!" the woman shouted, startling them all.

The demon seemed to hiss at her, its eyes bulging. It snarled and gurgled in its many voices; its body started twitching, jerking and jolting like it was being fried, or broken. Then it started talking in strange languages, languages that none of them-save it and maybe Genkai-recognized. Kurama and Hiei thought that they heard a trace of an old Japanese dialect that demons once used, long before the Spirit World had even dreamed of gaining control of Demon World, but with so many voices, speaking a different language each, the trace was lost.

"I order you to give me your name, demon." this time the voice that came from the once-old woman was now not even her own, old, young or anywhere inbetween.

"WE ARE MUSUU" was the unified concession and consecutive scream that thundered through the forest as the beast twitched and shook, the body jerking at the joints as if pulled by a thousand different puppet strings in all directions. It seemed to be all right angles as it twitched and seized where it stood, trapped by the barrier her statues provided.

_:Musuu_: "musuu" **(MUUUSUUUUUU!**) "Musuu!" "WE ARE MUSUU" **_::we are musu:_** we'remusuu. musuu.

Muusuuuu wearemusuu!

"Geez its like its short-circuiting or something..." Kuwabara muttered in half disgust.

"What gathering are you talking about?" Kurama questioned, his deeper voice growling.

The demon said nothing beyond it's supposed name of 'Musuu' and it's gurgling. It was twitching and jerking like it was being electrocuted. It snarled at them now and again, trying to get free and be rid of the pain.

"We have another guest," Hiei said, his eyes shifting to the side distance while his Jagan trained to the demon trapped within the barrier.

"What? Another one?" Kuwabara squawked, his eyes bugging.

Yusuke wasn't paying any attention; Genkai was chanting now in another language-it was seemingly greatly effecting her prey. He watched his adopted grandmother closely, his face stoney in apprehension. This had never happened; all at once everything about her was foreign.

"No, and ally," a voice sounded.

It was unlike any voice they'd heard, maybe altogether not a voice at all, likened almost to water or the rumble of an earthquake or thunder. It was beautiful, and terrifying. But it wasn't really like hearing a voice, it was almost like feeling it in their minds.

"Who the hell-"

"Who and what are not important." the voice said, cutting Yusuke off.

A figure appeared-if one could call it appearing. The visage was soft and fleeting, like light reflecting on moving water. In fact, it was more like their bodies sensed a presence there, and their eyes were coerced into seeing what wouldn't normally be seen-mass hallucinations.

"Genkai was opened to use to dispel this evil. It cannot be conquered by your combined strength alone. You would only kill the host, but not the true beast within. Step aside, and do not question what must be done."

It wasn't so much that the four guys were complying with the orders this Unknown had given them, but that they were unable to do anything but watch the scene play out in front of them. Kurama would later be able to describe it as an out of body experience, where they were incapable of doing anything but watching because their 'conscious' self was present outside of their physical self. In laymen's terms, he would explain that that whoever this new arrival was, it had separated their souls temporarily from their bodies, rendering it impossible for them to take action.

It was over quickly, however, and the experience wasn't something that was easily remembered-more that it was recalled, like a dream. They watched as Genkai moved-but only like a puppet, because she only moved after the light-figure had moved behind her in the same manner first. The movements were odd, fluent and serene, calm and ostensibly weak. Yet, as they watched, something happened to the demon. Inexplicably, there was some sort of separation-like a soul (ghost) leaving the body of a dead person. They weren't watching a soul though; they thought that they saw multiple souls, all conjoined together as if twisted, marred and malformed together in a hazardous pool of spirits. The body of the child fell away, as clean and unscathed as it must have been when the demon inhabited it.

Yusuke remembered feeling confused-Botan had told him that people couldn't be possessed unless under very specific circumstances, circumstances that applied to probably less than point zero one percent of the people in Japan. What he failed to remember was that people couldn't be possessed by ghosts, the 'rule' had nothing to do with demons.

* * *

"That makes zero for seven," Kido said with a heavy breath as the two walked slowly out of another shop.

"One for seven," she corrected him tersely, not bothering to wait as she strode confidently off towards the bus station.

Kido shook his head and rolled his eyes. She didn't take losing well-just like Yusuke. Though, once Kido thought about it, he realized Yusuke didn't ever really lose.

"Hey, you forgetting something?" he demanded.

"Tch. What?" she cocked her head to him, like she really didn't remember.

"...are you serious?" he questioned. "No way I wasted all that time and did all that work for nothing. Tell me what happened back there,"

"What?" she arched her brows at him, looking at him sidelong with a hint of irritation flashing through her eyes.

"Hey," he made a reach for her, meaning to take her arm to grab her attention.

Komi spun around on the defensive, like she was ready to punch his lights out, her eyes burning with that strange look he kept thinking he'd seen all day. The moment passed, though it'd lingered long enough for him to note it for sure that time. He hadn't been seeing things-that look had been in her eyes. It did leave, however, and she was back to what he assumed was her normal attitude in a manner of seconds.

"Kido, what!?" she said more forcefully.

"You promised to tell me what's going on with you-those dizzy spells?" he said, his own voice rising as he felt his patience diminish.

"No." she shook her head, much more calmly than he'd anticipated.

"Excuse me?" he took a step back.

"The deal was you help me figure out what's up with the paintings, then I talk. You didn't get any info, so I don't give any info."

"That ain't fair! I went along with this stupid charade all day for you!" his voice rose again, his feelings of control circling down the drain.

She gave him a look as if to say "So what?", begging his anger to continue. Which it did: if something was wrong, if she was sick or hurt or something Yusuke was going to beat his ass into the ground. And she was looking at him like she didn't give a rat's furry little behind about it.

"That was our deal. Figure something out, and I'll tell you a story," she said a little too smugly as the bus pulled in.

Kido took a long breath before he stepped up onto the bus as well. Is she just messing with me? he questioned as he looked at her, walking towards the back of the near empty bus. He had to admit, it was possible. He didn't know her well, but what he had learned in the past few weeks that she liked to goof around and pull pranks. Maybe she was just trying to pull his leg and have a good time while they killed time staying away from the temple. He knew she'd been right about Yusuke and the others not wanting them around, so maybe, he reasoned, she was just keeping things interesting.

But it hadn't looked like she was faking it at the food place.

* * *

"What the heck was that?!" Kuwabara gasped as he staggered to his feet.

Yusuke shook his head to clear it and moved towards Genkai. The old psychic was still radiating out power-the raw essence that he'd felt prior-but the glow she'd held was beginning to fade gradually. There was no sign of their guest now, the flickering-light-figure having gone. The demon, though, was still there. As well as the child, having fallen safe and sound right inside the barrier, looking like someone had just laid him down for bed.

"Someone hasn't learned to mind their own business," Hiei growled as he stood carefully, never ready to let one see him in any way undignified.

"Perhaps it was for the best," Kurama though, the threat now over and his form returning to human. "The demon has been dealt with, the child is fine and..."

"Genkai..." Yusuke muttered, finally able to place a hand on her shoulder as the glowing had stopped. The old woman fell, exhausted and passed out though looking better and more rested than he'd seen in a long time.

"Yusuke I do not sense anything wrong with her," Kurama reassured the detective. "We should get her back to the temple to make sure...but she seems fine,"

"And the child?" Hiei demanded.

"We'll come up with some story. I cannot in good conscious leave him here alone," Kurama stated, with Kuwabara in fervent agreement.

"What...was all that Kurama?" Yusuke asked stunned as he lifted his mentor.

Kurama eyed the mark where the demon had been-now simply a scorched dead scar on the land where nothing, in the times to come, would be able to grow again. With a heavy sigh he lifted the child and shook his head; it was one of the few times he hadn't had an answer to a question posed to him. That was highly disconcerting to say the least, but the feelings wouldn't find the young men until much later. For now, just like with Genkai, they looked stronger and more rested than they had in many weeks. Each felt and odd serenity take hold of them as they walked back towards the temple, like things had been utterly settled and the light-like-person with the strange voice had sifted out of their thoughts.

"What was that anyway?" Kuwabara asked as they all settled into various chairs. The child and Genkai tucked away and resting.

"Probably some hack from the Spirit World butting in on our business again," Yusuke brushed off like he always did.

"That was no Spirit World lackey." Hiei growled.

"I agree. It was not of a power we know." Kurama mused. "Perhaps we should wait for Genkai to awaken before we drown ourselves in speculations,"

"Hn. You know that should apply to you most of all fox," Hiei sneered, meaning that Kurama was going to think on who their helper may have been regardless of who he had to theorize with.

"Hey shouldn't Komi and Kido be back by now?" Kuwabara interrupted once again, saving them from further discussion on the strange phenomenon.

Kurama caught a mischievous smile on his face as he replied. ""Oh, perhaps the two are simply enjoying each other's company?"

Kuwabara started laughing and joined in. "Hehe, yeah, the road up here has lots of quiet secluded spots ya know,"

"Man shutup!" Yusuke snarled. "You don't know what yer talkin' about anyways."

"Come now Yusuke," Kurama pushed a little more, enjoying the peaceful moments being with his friends brought him, after nearly two hundred years of intrigue and heart-pounding theft. "You know a trip down into town, and the return journey, does not take quite so long as they have made it,"

"Dammit, Kurama I-"

"Back off!" they heard a door slam open and Komi shout.

"Hey, don't just run off," Kido sounded more pleeding than authoritative.

Komi froze when she saw them all through the open doorway, arched her brows giving them a face that demanded "what the heck are you looking at?" before she sauntered in and dropped the groceries into Yusuke's lap before falling onto the couch that, surprisingly, Hiei occupied.

Kido, however, upon following her with the rest of their day's plunder, looked utterly sheepish and abashed at having been heard at their little interlude. He acted like a puppy caught eating a favorite pair of shoes as he walked in, clearing his throat, and fiddling with just about whatever he could get his hands on.

Yusuke looked from his cousin to Kido, his frown deepening.

"What kept you?" he growled.

Kurama noted the very pointed look the girl gave her cousin before she smirked arrogantly and answered "doing what you asked, what else?"

"Hey," he started on her, getting more frustrated with the girl as the conversation went on.

"Yes, surely you two were finished hours ago?" Suichi asked with his own little smirk.

"Kido was showing me around all the boring little shops." Komi shrugged innocently. "Hey, speaking of the shops, have you guys been all through there before?"

"Komi," Kido tried quietly, backing off like a kicked dog when he caught the look Yusuke gave to him.

"Why?" Yusuke asked, curious about why she'd care and why Kido wouldn't want her to talk about it.

She shrugged. "Lots of interesting things in the shops, that's all,"

_What is going through her head_, Suichi mused.

"Seems pretty innocent to me," Kuwabara shrugged.

"What's innocent?" Komi asked, her brow furrowing.

"Let's talk about something else, shall we?" Suichi asked pleasantly, not forgetting about about the looks he'd caught from Kido.

"So what do you guys do for fun here anyways? Fight all the time?" Komi quipped.

They exchanged looks of uncertainty.

"Tch. I'll show you what there is to do around here," Yusuke sneered jokingly standing and stretching. "Get ready kid,"

* * *

"Kur-er, Suichi?" Kido asked tentatively, walking around the porch as Komi and Yusuke played Keep-Away from Kuwabara.

The redhead smiled pleasantly over his tea, encouraging the question he could hear on the boy's voice.

"...Uh, about Komi..." he started, looking away hastily. "Er...have you noticed, I mean, do you think that, uhm..."

"I am going to hazard the guess that you are not asking because of some infatuation?" the elder reasoned to Kido, still smiling his pleasant smile. "What, exactly is your question Kido?"

"...uh, well," Kido stuttered, caught off guard. "Have you noticed...anything strange about her?"

Kurama thought back to his first meeting with the girl, then again to when Yusuke had sent her off, away from the impending trouble. The girl had gleaned a certain look in her eyes on those occasions, had betrayed herself as knowing something more than they had let on to her. In truth, yes he had indeed noticed something off about the child.

"I am not sure I understand what you mean Kido. Perhaps, that you feel you have noticed something about Komi that unsettles you?"

Kido squirmed under Suichi's question, not liking the idea that maybe it was all him, and not a collective feeling after all. "Well, I guess...since you mention it, yeah. I think I did."

"We...we were on the bus you know, and I just kept feeling like she'd get this...look," he scratched his head and then sat on the railing. "An-And, there was...something else..."

It took Suichi's gentle prodding to get him to continue his sentence.

"Well, she got all obsessive over these paintings in the shops...which I guess she didn't want to tell you guys, but we weren't getting anywhere so we got some grub and she practically fainted after-"

"What, what just went through your mind right there?" Suichi asked, noting that the moment Kido was talking about reminded him of something he must have thought important.

"Er...well it was right after there was this huge surge in energy that blew in off the mountain...and it had to have been a demon's energy...but anyways, she wouldn't talk about it-almost passing out I mean, and then she gets these really weird looks all the time..."

"Weird...looks?" the fox tiled his eyes, wondering if Kido meant what he thought. "How so Kido,"

"...well..." _How do I explain it? I don't even really know what it was...and I'll bet that Suichi already thinks I'm an idiot...going on about Yusuke's cousin is sure to make me look like some lovesick goon._ "There's this look she gets in her eyes, kinda like, like there's someone else underneath, but then its gone and it's hard to decide whether or not it was ever there. Do you get what I'm saying? It's like, I can't tell if she's serious about something or if she's just being smart to cover up what she knows but shouldn't know...you know?" Kido squinted his eyes after his rush of breath and scratched his head.

Suichi smiled. "Perhaps you are seeing what you want to see, Kido? Yukomi is, different, if you will, and she hasn't been in Japan in some time. She's probably dealing with culture-shock, and maybe identity problems too-she's identified as an American for some time has she not? Suddenly she is once again Japanese, having had very little to do with our traditions to be abruptly immersed into them once again.

"I believe you want there to be something different about her, something odd and mysterious. Maybe even like Yusuke is?"

Suichi smiled, but his own mind was working overtime. Kido had seen what he had been seeing as well. _Someone else underneath? Yes, it seems that is exactly what is going on. Komi has Yusuke's eyes sometimes, and at others she seems as innocent as a babe..._

"I...guess maybe you're right..."

"Come, let us join the others?"

* * *

"Tch c'mere," Kuwabara laughed, snatching at the girl.

"Hah!" she chided, dodging away and tossing the ceremonial bracelet over his head to Yusuke.

"Urameshii! Give it back!" Kuwabara shouted, his cheeks flushing.

"What, your girlfriend give it to you?" Komi taunted, tripping him as he lunged for her cousin.

"Hey, Komi!"

"What, so weak you gotta pick on girls?" Yusuke sneered, lobing the 'magic' beads over to the girl who spun away from the older boy and quickly added distance between them.

"What's that supposed to mean?" she called with laughter. "Bet I could take 'em just fine!"

"Don't be ridiculous!" Kuwabara huffed, stomping his foot.

"Yeah Komi," Yusuke said, giving him a shove. "a ten-year-old could take him out,"

"Awright that's it!" Kuwabara made a lunge at Yusuke and tackled him to the ground.

Being a good sport, Yusuke wrestled with him, pretending that their strengths were what they had never been-reasonably equal. The two punched and tackled, pinning and choking each other as they twisted and growled and slung trash talk about.

Suichi was too busy talking with Kido to watch the fun going on below. But Hiei wasn't.

The three-eyed demon sat tucked away in the rafters of the temple, looking down on the others and using his eye to watch his sister in town. As he looked down on the grounds he saw Yusuke goofing off with the idiot, and the young girl. However, once Yusuke and Kuwabara started wrestling Hiei's attention went straight for the girl.

It wasn't because he held any interest for her-at least up until that point. But instead of laughing or watching or moving on like one of the other humans would have, Komi just stood there and watched them. Hiei felt like she looked a little lost, which he thought was stupid of her-until he checked his eyes and looked closer. The look on her face was empty-hollow. She watched them with literally no emotion on her face and no light in her eyes.

She looked like him: disinterested, unimpressed, void of empathy, and utterly vacant. In his mind, her arrival into their lives had just become interesting. She was obviously not who she said she was-she was hiding something.

And she was smart; her head perked up and she turned to look in his direction-he was sure she couldn't see him, but she was looking up towards where he reclined in the shadows. So, she'd felt him watching, that much was apparent.

"Yusuke, what are you doing now?" Hiei heard a shrill voice demand; Yusuke's woman must be making an appearance.

"Not now Keiko," the boy growled, jamming Kuwabara's face into the dirt.

"Get'em Yusuke," Shizuru said in her usually monotone voice, holding an unlit cigarette between her fingers as she stepped over them. "Who's she?"

"Komi." Keiko addressed the girl with a nod.

"Keiko." Komi said just as tersely, forcing a smile and cocking her head in a mock friendly manner.

"I'm this oaf's older sister, Shizuru, Komi. How'd you get dumped into this group?"

"I'm-"

"Shouldn't you make sure your little cousin's gotten ahold of her guardian, Yusuke? I mean, it isn't like she's got the rest of her life to hang around here, right?"

"Hey, I know you!" Yukina said as she finally made her way up the last stairs from the road.

"...uh..." Komi tilted her head

"You're that girl from the road, asking about Grover Fields?" Yukina reminded her.

"OH! Yeah, thanks for that."

"So you two know each other?" Kuwabara finally got out of Yusuke's grasp.

Komi shrugged ambivalently.

"This is Yukina," the orange-headed man said as he brushed himself off, straightening his shirt and trying not to look like a total doofus in front of his girl. "My, uhm. Girlfriend. And Shizuru, my sister. Ladies, this is Komi,"

"Uh, hey," the girl said, brushing the back of her head and looking really uncomfortable.

"Is Genkai around?" Keiko asked with a roll of her eyes. "Yukina and Shizuru needed to talk to her."

"And I thought you were all here to see me," Yusuke said in his teasing voice, still sprawled on the ground.

"Tch you? Maybe in your dreams," Komi said, pushing him back down with her foot as he tried to stand.

"Well they sure as hell didn't come for you," he play-snarled, grabbing her foot and pulling her onto her butt.

"Actually..." Shizuru paused as she looked at Komi, her eyes far away as if she was seeing a vision.

"Genkai's inside," Suichi interrupted pleasantly (Hiei sneered, disliking that the fox had intervened) "We've just got some tea going, care to join us?"


End file.
